| Category | Serif |
|---|---|
| Designer(s) | Samuel Nelson Dickinson |
| Foundry | Alexander Wilson and Son |
| Date released | 1839 |
Scotch Roman refers to a class of typefaces popular in the early nineteenth century, particularly in the United States and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom. These typefaces were modeled on an original 1839 design by Samuel Nelson Dickinson, founder of the Dickinson Type Foundry in Boston, who had the design cut by Richard Austin, and cast by Alexander Wilson and Son in Glasgow, Scotland.[1] The name of the font family is derived from the location of the font foundry.
Scotch Roman typefaces are a serif font, suitable for both body text and large text such as headings. De Vinne described Scotch Roman as “a small, neat, round letter, with long ascenders, and not noticeably condensed or compressed.”[2]
These typefaces were extremely influential on many modern typefaces, including Caledonia, Georgia, and Escrow (commissioned by the Wall Street Journal)[3].